


Get me home; I'll help you Escape

by Y0UN6_R34D3R



Category: All For One (Web Series), Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Dorothy & Laura Cousins, F/F, F/M, Gen, Inseperables, Photographer AU, Running Away, road trip au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 21:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7590124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Y0UN6_R34D3R/pseuds/Y0UN6_R34D3R
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missed flight home, a broken car, and 1000 miles to travel. Persistant hitch-hiker Laura. Closed off & Lost, Knight in the shining leather, Carmilla.</p><p> </p><p>Or in which Person 1 runs away and Person 2 takes them home. Then Person 2 runs away without telling and Person 1 has to find them. Or some twisted mess like that. </p><p>*Fingers-crossed* Promise to make it worth your while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Have you ever wondered how much easy it would be to be able to control your own fate entirely. Like having ultimate power to get what you want, do what you want, and be with whoever you want. Forget money, wealth, or success for this instant, that is impossible. But instead you’d be able to control how you live and how you reach that success. With a snap of fingers you could make somebody agree with you. With a snap you could convince yourself to have confidence, or to forget something bad, or stop you could stop something bad from happening at all. With a snap you could make someone fall in love with you and then make the universe powerless and unable to keep you two apart. How you wondered how that bliss would feel like?

 

Now try to imagine if you were to be the exact opposite of what you just wondered. You have the money, wealth, and success but you cannot control how you reach there. Your opinion is always disagreed upon, no matter what the discussion was, or who you were having it with. You are constantly put down by others, haunted by the memories of a terrible past, and powerless when those monsters threaten to come back. Imagine loving someone with all your heart only to have your love be unrequited and then if that were not enough, getting a front row seat to watch that someone promise their life long companionship to someone else.

 

You can't do it, can you?

 

And when you can't imagine something, you can't even begin to understand someone who lives that as a reality everyday of her life. You may worry but don't feel sorry for her. She hates being pitied. She won’t accept sympathy. Which is why she makes sure nobody even knows what she hides when she goes about her life smirking and being indifferent towards everything. You might as well just call her selfish or apathetic. She prefers it that way. She's willing to be called the worst of the worst, if she knows that there is at least someone out there who knows better.

 

Even if that someone is not with her.

 

Even if that someone is getting married today. Getting married to someone else that is not her. Someone else who is also rich and powerful, but has an advantage of being male and heterosexual. Both of the things that she is not.

 

It doesn’t matter that instead of waiting for the bride on the altar like she always wanted, that someone else is in her place, rich and powerful male groom for Ell Vordenberg that she could never be. At least Ell knows and loves real Carmilla, even if it isn't in the way the latter wants her to. This also means that she, the young, wealthy, and very female heir of Karnstein Co., is rather in the front row of the audience. Still waiting for the bride like everyone else, but here to watch the wedding and not be a part of it.

 

What else could she do, though? It's the biggest wedding of the corporate world in the past decade. Otherwise known as a white décor merger between the powerful Vordenberg Industries and their foreign based partner, Lustig Corporation. And for that, it was essential for the up and coming CEO of Karnstein Co. and other big business sharks to make an appearance for the sake of good relations. Well, that and the fact Carmilla practically grew up next doors to the Vordenbergs and was best friends with Ell despite their parents being business rivals at the time and upto this day. Carmilla had to show up one way or another even if she declined the request of being the maid of honor. This way, at least she'd only have to control her lifelong crush on her very straight best friend just during the actual ceremony and had saved herself from the pain of helping with the wedding preparations. Which, by the way, were done to perfection.

 

The Main Hall of the grandest church in the county was decorated to sheer beauty. The masterfully hung drapes, the carefully picked flowers, the perfect lighting for the pictures, even the huge orchestra providing joyous melodies. All had been in works for the years now. Vordenbergs flaunted all they had in the preparation for their only child’s wedding. Or it could just be a ploy to impress their wealthy current business partners and future relatives. One could never tell.

 

At least, the décor was all light colours and almost extravagantly simple. Like Ell had wanted.

 

Just for today. Carmilla kept telling herself as soon as she sat down in her seat, all through the time the guests piled in and even more so when the groom took his place at the altar, waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle. You can pretend for one more day that you aren't in love with her. You can pretend for one more day that it's okay. That it doesn't hurt. Just for today.

 

Just for today you can hold it in, then you won't have to see her again.

 

In fact, don't even see her now. Carmilla told herself as the bride's entrance music began to play. The classic ‘Here comes the bride’ on organ rings annoyingly as the church doors open. Carmilla manages to distract herself by glaring at the grand orchestra for all of 10 seconds before she hears the happy whispers of guests remarking the beauty of the bride and she has to look. And she just can't bring herself to regret her decision because she is too busy marvelling the radiant beauty of her best friend.

 

Ell looked like any happy bride would at her wedding as she walked down the aisle on her father, Baron Vordenberg’s arm. Selfishly, Carmilla hoped and wished in that moment for Ell to glance at her just once to let her know that maybe just maybe she loved her back. But Ell remained shy and graceful, looking at down at her own steps like she always did. Her serenity was what made Carmilla love her even more. Ell was never to talk or express much about herself. She rarely even gave away her likes or dislikes. However, that was until she reached close to the altar and finally glanced up to look at the man she'd be spending her life with. Carmilla couldn't help but notice in genuine observation that she looked… Happy. Her eyes, though hard to read usually, showed only pure joy. She actually wanted this.

 

It was then that Carmilla’s head involuntarily let go all and any selfish hopes of a possible future with her best friend. Ell never once glanced back as she put her hand in her groom’s and joined him. She never once looked away from his eyes as she smiled brightly and unsurprisingly, neither did he. Carmilla understood that despite their marriage being a base of a business deal, this guy and her best friend, were really in love. Her head at last pieced all the details. Now all she needed to do was convince her heart of that.

 

She didn’t pay attention to the vows or the minister’s words. Carmilla was busy sorting thoughts in her own head. She admitted that she had let her prejudice and jealousy previously prevent her from seeing it but now that she had nothing to focus on except two of them, she realized how many times she missed adoring looks between the couple all these years. When she was trying for most part of the past 5 years to say the right words to her best friend and admit her feelings, she didn't listen to the conversations Ell spent gushing about this guy. Despite being present to witness it, she was in a subconscious denial even when this guy managed to find those right words before her and Ell had wholeheartedly accepted his proposal. In fact, she was always so busy fantasizing about her possible relationship with Ell to notice that the other girl was always made to be with this guy.

 

Watching them slide the simple gold wedding bands on each other’s finger, Carmilla was suddenly free of the cloud of denial that had formed within her thoughts. This marriage had actually happened and Ell was now somebody else’s. Not that she was ever Carmilla’s to begin with. The brunette began to accept that fact. The only problem was, she wasn't ready to let go yet. Her head might be making sense for once, but her heart was still too hooked up on her lifelong best friend. For as long as Carmilla was old enough to play in the garden outside her house, she'd known Ell to share every moment with her. They rarely opened to each other, but it worked for them because Ell never judged and Carmilla never pushed. It was as if they were a constant for each other. Or at least Ell was a constant for Carmilla whenever things got tough and she needed an escape. Again, Ell never judged.

 

Maybe Carmilla was ready to let that go.

 

What was she to do now if the things got tough? There was no escape that she could come back from without Ell. She didn't have anyone to run to anymore. Maybe the only other option is to run away.

 

“... You may now kiss the bri-.”

 

Carmilla didn't wait for the minister to wrap up the ceremony. She didn't stay for the kiss. She couldn't. All she heard were faint and distant noises of applause and celebration as she sprinted out of the closest side exit from the church. She also vaguely recalled coming here with her brother and then his voice calling out for her as she ran but she was too numb to pay attention anymore.

 

She quickly made her way to her car, subconsciously asking the driver for the keys (which he gave without question because she was the CEO after all), climbing in alone, and speeding off. No destination in mind except a ringing urge to get out of there.

 

[][][][][][][][]

 

Airport. That's where she ended up apparently. It almost seemed like subconsciousness had taken the term ‘get away’ too seriously. And somehow it led her to drive 40 miles to the Styria International Terminal in a daze. She didn't even remember driving that far, honestly. Nor could she understand why she had to drive all the way here and not to the much closer Silas Airport.

 

But alas, here was Carmilla Karnstein, the youngest ever CEO of a multibillion euro Business and Finance Corporation, sitting in an economy class airport coffee shop and staring blankly at her drink. For the past half an hour, might I add. And frankly for someone who needed time and space to think, Carmilla wasn't doing very much of it, if her occasional mindless sips of the now cold coffee were any indication. The drive here must have done its job of clearing her head because she was too numb to even feel, let alone think properly. Or more like she still felt and thought too much at the same time and now her brain had given up on trying to sort it out.

 

The brunette had already come to terms with the fact that there was no ‘Ell and her’ in her future. And it didn't take much effort to convince her head of that fact, or to get rid of her hopes and ‘maybe’s and ‘what if’s. Driving here had helped. Driving always helped, in fact. The only problem was that she still couldn't deny that she had and still has feelings for her best friend. And now it raised more contradicting thoughts on whether her feelings were ever romantic if they she could so easily accept the marriage she just witnessed. And if they weren't, then why did she feel so lost now, almost heartbroken. Either way, how could she go about getting over those feelings.

 

Then there was her family, specifically her mother, that she had to deal with. She was almost 75 percent sure that the press had seen her minutely escape from the wedding. And while it wouldn't concern her who thought what of her usually, no multibillionaire business owner practically runs from one of the grandest event of the corporate world. It was sure to make the news sooner or later, especially taking into account that the economic imbalance and family drama happening at Karnstein Co. in the recent years has basically turned her and her family into some sort of celebrities. Carmilla was not looking forward to explaining that why her ‘emotional instability’ had once again made the papers, as her mother liked to call it. In all honesty, she was half hoping to jump on a random flight to avoid that conversation all together but knew that it would rile up Mother Dearest even more. And even if she were to run, who could she run to anyways?

 

And so her thoughts were back to the Ell dilemma.

 

Carmilla sighed heavily. Dragging her eyes away from the barely lukewarm coffee in front her, she tiredly scanned her surroundings. It was hard to focus at first but then she realized that it was just the bustling crowd that made it hard for the her preoccupied brain to concentrate on, or even comprehend what was happening around her. It instantly served to her already building headache and she winced involuntarily. She reached for her coffee to try and subside the pain soon but almost flinched at the awful taste of cold and even more so, instant coffee.

 

With another long, exhausted, and pained sigh, the brunette finally got up from the plastic fold up chair she was settled in to get another tolerable cup of dark liquid she held now. That was when she also noticed that she hadn't felt any frantic vibrations in her pocket ever since she left the church, which could mean that she left her phone at the wedding. She couldn't help but deem it a tiny blessing with the way things were going today. She looked at the short line at the coffee counter and made her way. Although, she had only taken one step away from her table when she was momentarily blinded by a mess of dirty blonde right in her line of sight. And the next three thing she knew  at once were the hot liquid now running down her thigh, the searing burn it gave, and a similarly painful and protesting shout from person in front of her as the one that came from her own mouth.

 

“Oh my Gandalf! It burns!” Carmilla heard as soon as she registered the person in front of her was equally burned by the liquid they were carrying. She almost forgot her own physical pain when the person looked right at her. She found herself staring into the bright honey brown eyes of a tiny (she noticed) and judging by her words, a very dorky girl. Carmilla was vaguely aware of the girl's lips moving but her already aching head refused to register the words and she almost couldn't tear her eyes away from the honey brown colour for some reason.

 

Until, that is, the girl practically shouted in pain and frustration to gain her attention, “DO SOMETHING!”

  
Somehow Carmilla’s brain worked at the right time, and she immediately acted on impulse, dumping the contents of her own coffee cup on the two of them.


	2. Late and Lost

“Flight 307: Graz to Munich is now boarding. Passengers, please make your way to Gate Number 5. Thank you.”

 

The voice on the intercom when silent after the usual xylophone tone and the passengers responded to the call accordingly. The waiting room began to empty out until there were only about a dozen foreign college nerds and their trip supervisors left. You could make this assumption not because of their accents or anything. But because they were the only dorks in the room, dressed in the typical excited paparazzi-slash-tourist attire, topped with the notepads and camera cases. Either they were college kids on an academic trip, or a cosplay group of The Office cast. However, considering that they were on an airport, the former seemed more probable.

 

And if you haven’t already guessed from their get ups, you should probably know that these kids were no ordinary. In fact, this was a group of some of the top graduates in the field of Journalism from St. Crowley University in Munich, Germany. They had graduated just last month apparently and this was their last stop of a research trip they'd been on with their most experienced Professors in charge and now finally they were barely a 500 kilometres away from home. They had the privilege to travel to 5 different countries across the continent in the past few weeks, and learn about the vast career and opportunities of Investigative Journalism in the world. 

 

The young journalists had visited several media industries along the way and used their travel experiences to explore their options, get job opportunities, build up their résumés, and also write up an investigative report of a topic of their choice regarding the instability of the corporate world in the past few years. The last part of the trip was in fact for a competition to win a paid internship at the Europe’s well known Business and Finance Corporation, Karnstein Co., in their press and public relationship department. The internship would start at the end of summer so the reports were to submitted to the professors before that time.

 

Now, the Karnstein Co. may have been facing some backlash in the past few months but it was still, by far, the most successful company in the corporate world to this day. And getting to work for them was a dream of every young student pursuing careers in business, commerce, finance, and media, including journalism. It seemed like there was a position for everyone with the expanded and diverse departments at the company, not to mention, Karnstein Co. remained business partners, investors, and sponsors of hundreds of other local business in not only Styria or even Europe, but worldwide. For these dozen college graduates, it was one of the toughest competitions to earn a place in such marvelous offices and they were determined to do so.

 

But enough about the Karnstein Co. and it’s Hunger Games level competition. This whole intro was just to give you an idea of the current events in the world, as well as the reason these particular set of people were at the Styrian International Airport on this day. Because among these curiously investigative students was one Laura Hollis, writer extraordinaire. She is a quite important character in this piece so let's talk about her for minute. 

Here’s what we know about her in a nutcase:

 

Name: Laura G. Hollis (origins of ‘G’: unknown)

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Occupation: College graduate from St. Crowley. Former barista. Aspiring Journalist.

Nationality: British (studying in Munich for the past four years)

Favorite Show: Doctor Who, Sherlock, Veronica Mars, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Favorite Food: Cookies and Hot chocolate.

Weapon of choice: Bear spray and a spatula.

Category: (if you can't tell) Dork.

 

Oh and she is gay. 

 

And that's about it. I know it’s hard to believe that we know nothing of this woman when we basically dissected the deepest emotions of the girl in the previous chapter. Not because she is a mysterious conundrum or anything, I can assure you. Nor is she guarded and reserved like the girl in the last chapter. In fact, ten minutes with her, and you can probably name all of her childhood imaginary friends if you pay attention. But that's just it. Nobody does. Pay attention, I mean.

 

Let's try and think. 

School is hectic. Whether it be primary school, secondary, or even University, you'll remain surrounded by mountains of responsibilities and expectations that you can't help but fulfill willingly or reluctantly. There are always friends, acquaintances, or peers for you to engage with that you can't really find time to sit down and really just talk with one specific person for the fear of neglecting another. Which is why when you find a stable significant other in your life, you feel devoted to them because you find time for them and know that they understand when you don't. Otherwise, almost everyone has to keep up appearances for the sake of politeness, if in all honesty they couldn’t care less for what you have to say. Isn't that right? 

 

For Laura Hollis, it certainly is. 

 

Unfortunately for her, she has only ever had the privilege of meeting such people in her life. The ones who would most likely count her as a mere acquaintance, despite spending 3 days a week for 4 years, sharing a class with her and only about 12 other people. If you ask her, more often than not she feels like that 3am train that nobody in their right mind would catch. Many times had she delayed herself from her destination, even as far as a whole hour, to find a passenger. But they'd rather wait in the freezing cold or suffocating humidity from 4:05am and hours onwards for another right train, than change their routine for her. So, you can't really blame her if her train has stopped opening it's doors at all and keeps on speeding to its destination without any platforms to stop at. What destination? She is still unsure. But this way, she'll get there faster anyways.

After all, she has never missed a deadline in her life.

 

“Alright, Future Star Journalists. Time to go home.” Prof. Cochrane spoke up, after the intercom announcement, gathering up his own luggage and urging the tired yet excited youngsters to do the same.

 

Laura was, as usual, the first to get up and head towards the gates, simultaneously strapping her backpack as scanning her student ID in her professor's phone that kept track of all the students. It was a wonder how she was so energetic at this time when they all had barely had 3 hours of sleep last night after the end-of-the-trip wine and cheese party and had been waiting at this goddamn airport since 6am for their previously delayed flight. But then again, it was the ever so chirpy class topper Laura Hollis, so no one really questioned this usual behaviour.

 

Thankfully for the rest of them, this was the last stop of their trip, where they'd seen and had the rare chance to tour the main headquarters of Karnstein Co., in the city where the whole empire had been originally built by the late Mr. Karnstein. It was quite possibly a much bigger opportunity than this entire trip combined for these young students, one of whom will actually be working here by the end of summer. However, before they could get back into the competition, they all needed a good night's sleep to get past their enormous jet lags. Or even a cup of coffee would suffice for now.

 

“Hey, Laura. Wait up.” The tiny blonde turned around mid-step to see her classmate and ex-roommate, Betty Spleisdorf struggling with her own backpack and extra carry-on suitcase while swiping her student ID. Despite her struggles, she managed to make it to the waiting room exit where the smaller blonde stood, before stumbling over the elevated threshold, dropping her suitcase and almost tackling Laura. 

 

With quite good reflexes, and impressively strong muscles, Laura managed to keep them both upright before she chuckled amusingly. “Alright, Betty. I know everyone else is tired too, but I think you need coffee right now. I don't want you sleepwalking on the plane and then face planting in the aisle when we take off.”

 

Betty let out a small laugh as well, composing herself. “No, no. I'm fine. The flight is barely an hour long. I can make it.”

 

Betty again picked up her suitcase but as soon as Laura let go off her forearms, the taller blonde swayed in dizziness and immediately leaned against the wall to avoid falling. Yep. This wasn't just lack of sleep. Betty had hit it hard at the wine and cheese last night. 

Laura chuckled in amusement, “Your dark circles and mismatched shoes say otherwise. Besides you can barely stand and after the flight we have to go through all the customs and stuff before we can find coffee. I refuse to let it be a Weekend at Bernie’s scene. I'll get you coffee.”

 

“But we are boarding already.” Betty reasoned, even if all her senses just screamed for coffee right now.

 

“It's just the first call. I'll be fine.” 

 

“The coffee house is three gates away. I'll just get it on the plane.”

 

“It's an hour's flight. I doubt we'd be served coffee.”

 

“But- Ouch. Okay, okay, I need coffee.” Betty had almost made another protest when her head began throbbing violently and she submitted.

 

“Hold my bag.” Laura instructed with a sympathetic smile, placing her backpack next to the suitcase and jogging to the direction of the coffee house.

 

“Hurry back!”

 

“I won't miss it!”

  
  


[][][][][][]

 

Fifteen minutes later…

 

“DO SOMETHING!” Laura yelled frantically after receiving no response from the person in front of her. Seriously, they both had hot liquid on their pants, why was Laura the only one screaming in pain? The other girl was so silent and calm despite her most definitely burning skin that Laura almost wanted to see who this person thought they were. But her curiosity was damned in that moment because she was too busy looking her own hands and thigh, cursing Betty, herself, the wine-and-cheese, and every decision she ever made that led her to buying this extra steamed, extra hot latte. 

 

It was not a second later that she felt, rather than heard, another splash of liquid and found herself drenched again in coffee. This time, from head to toe.

 

“Are you CRAZY?!” Laura screamed once again on reflex. In her subconscious mind, she braced herself for another burning feeling on her body some place or other as her mouth spewed out another string of insults to whomever caused it. “What did you do, you moron?! This isn't fighting fire with fire situation, Shakespeare!! I am burning here, you jerk! I am literally burn-”

 

The tiny brunette cut herself off as her mind caught up to her senses and she realized the lack of burning. And not only where the new liquid was spilled but the burns on her hands and thighs were reducing in pain, feeling rather sticky. Laura slowly opened her eyes to look at herself again before acknowledging the relatively cold beverage that had been dumped on her. It was room temperature coffee and it was sticky but it was effective. Like, really effective.

 

“What-” Laura finally looked up confusedly at the person she bumped into and was immediately taken aback. 

 

This girl was the most gorgeous human being she'd ever laid eyes on. That was saying a lot considering that Laura had had her fair share of travel across the world but never had she seen someone with such exquisite features. And she'd only yet seen this girl's eyes and cheekbones. This was either because they were too close to each other to focus on the whole face, or the chocolate brown eyes she was looking into were way too captivating on their own. Either way, Laura didn't mind;  Who knew brown could be such a interesting colour,  she thought instead. 

 

The blonde refocused her vision after a few moments to properly see the girl's face and was pleasantly stunned to be proven right about the exquisite features thing. Her long brunette hair was straightened and shiny but you could tell that it was naturally wavey by the way her unruly bangs framed her forehead, almost covering the one perfectly raised eyebrow. The eyebrows were of course natural and flawless, and they sure made her expressions rather sexy; in an aesthetic point of view, of course. Not to mention, this girl had a beautiful diamond-sharp jawline that seemed to have been chiseled by the Greek God Hephaestus himself. And finally, her soft pink lips moved in such a way-  Wait, what did she say?

 

Laura blinked once again, focusing on reality and managed to hear the last few words spoken, “... you later, Cupcake.” 

 

Suddenly, the other girl was turning around and walking towards the exit without so much as a glance behind her. Thankfully, no crowd had gathered to see the mess, or they would seen the dumbfounded look on Laura’s face as the brunette left and she was not in the mood to engage in public scrutiny. And while she’d deny it if you ever ask, Laura may have taken a moment to appreciate the confidence and grace of the girl's walk. It was admirable really; walking off so nonchalantly after an embarrassing moment like that. Also, for the sake of posterity ( Yeah, sure),  the blonde took notice of the way the brunette’s black blazer and (oh, wow) leather pants seem to hug her body from behind.  Uh, it's form-fitted. Cool. Umm, good to know.

 

Laura was almost certain that the brunette heard her gulp.

 

But the daze was over almost as fast as it had fallen when the intercom went live:

“Flight 307: Graz to Munich. Last call for boarding passengers. Please make your way to Gate Number 5. Your flight will be taking off shortly.”

 

Holy Hufflepuff!  Laura thought in alarm. She'd almost forgotten about the plane during this whole debacle.  Last Call! 

 

In panic mode already, the girl glanced towards her coffee soaked clothes as well as the wet floor. She never liked leaving a mess no matter where she is and neither did she like feeling messy for that matter. But in that moment her priority instinct kicked in, and throwing caution to the wind, she ran like a mad persons towards her gate.

 

Why did I agree to get coffee?!  Her thoughts flared mid run. Thinking the worst, she was cursing and berating herself for being so stupidly selfless.

 

Ugh! Who built the coffee house so far from the gates?!

 

I swear, they are gonna get a lengthy complaint letter from me when I get back.

 

Get back… I wonder if I'll ever see that girl again. Who was she anyways?  Yes, apparently those thoughts had appeared as well but Laura shook them off quickly in order to keep running. She knew it wasn’t ideal that she looked like a deranged tourist and she might've seen a few people glance and chuckle at her obvious stupidity, however now was not the time to bite off their heads. She had to meet a deadline.

 

This is it.  Laura thought as she reached the familiar waiting room. Betty wasn't nearby, so the tiny blonde made her way to the gate itself. She hoped that Betty was at the gate, waiting for her with the boarding pass that was in the side pocket of her backpack for easy access. Betty would've realized that she had Laura’s boarding pass and she'd wait for her, right? RIGHT?!

 

Finally reaching the gate, the blonde took a second’s breath to look for a sign of her peers or professors, but there wasn't one. The gate attendant was busy arranging the passes he collected when Laura made her way over. She tried to look for Betty inside the gate but the attendant stopped her from going in. He asked for her boarding pass and it was when Laura finally registered the issue. And in all her Hollis cool, she started to ramble. 

 

The journalist accounted the whole story to the attendant in one breath and by the end she looked like she was going to faint from the lack of breathing. But it didn't seem to faze the guy in the slightest. He kept his polite face and with most definitely fake concern said he was sorry but explained that she needed her pass to board. Laura was on the verge of going into another ramble to try and get him to let her through, promising that she'll get her pass from Betty, when in her peripheral she watched another gate attendant shut the door. Dread and soon following despair filled her in that moment like a wave. This could only mean...

 

I missed my first deadline.

 

[][][][][][]

 

Have you ever seen a tiny injured puppy on a footpath? Whom most people don't pay a glance to as they pass by. The cute little miserable puppy that when you see, you just want to gather it into your arms and help it heal. But then as you cautiously approach it, it starts barking defensively and you are startled enough to grab your stuff and make a run for it. 

 

In this case, that’s Laura. Sitting defeatedly in an airport lobby chair, and looking like the said injured puppy; miserable and alone. But also you’ll find her glaring poison tipped daggers at what seems to be her student ID in her hand, as well as at any passerby who even looks at her with pity or confusion. So far nobody has come near her and she is grateful for it in a way. She can’t deal with anyone right now. It's better if she drowns in her self pity alone. 

 

Turns out, the girl who always seem to have a plan for her life and carries precautionary bear spray with everywhere she goes, is a complete idiot when it comes to keeping close the belongings that actually matter. In painful hindsight, she probably shouldn't have stuffed her wallet inside her backpack when she handed it to Betty. She had grabbed a handful of coins for the coffee and just left everything in her bag, that was now in Betty’s custody, on a flight out of the country. Her passport, ID, phone, money, and even her ticket was in that stupid bag, while she was left staring at her useless student card, and barely £2. 

 

While Laura had given a call to Betty in the plane from the reception desk, to tell her to keep her stuff until she reaches Munich, the blonde really had no idea how she'd get there in the first place. She didn't have money and she was sure that nobody would be willing to give her a 4 hour ride out of country for free. Plus, how was she supposed to get out of the country with only her student ID. And to top it all off, she was still drenched in coffee. Despite having wash it out the best she could in an airport restroom, she still reeked of very strong coffee and it was starting to give her a headache. She let out another defeated sigh, pocketing her Student ID and looking around for any sign of hope that she wouldn't be forever stuck in a foreign country for the rest of her life.

 

And then she saw her. 

 

On the other side of the transparent airport walls, stood the dark haired girl from before. The one who had her fair share to contribute to Laura’s current situation and made her place in the list of people and things that Laura was mentally cursing right now. There she was now, standing next to a shiny black Audi Q5, leaning against the door and staring at her surroundings with visible disaffection. It looked like she’d rather be anywhere but there, but then again, it seemed that she had nowhere to go. All she did was casually play with the car keys in her hands with no intention of leaving or interacting with anyone for that matter.

 

Laura was curious. Why would anyone be at an airport if they didn’t want to go anywhere? And it didn’t seem like she was waiting for anyone either. She was in front for the departure gate, for one. And second, she didn’t have a phone or watch that a ‘normal’ person would look at if they were waiting. Laura did wait, however, for someone to come up to her or for her to indicate why she was there. Meanwhile, Laura could occupy herself by studying this mysterious creature from afar. Of course, a normal person would consider it creepy, or anyone in Laura’s place right now would’ve at least gone to confront the person who spilled coffee on them. But this was journalism major with social skills of a shy 10-year-old. She could barely speak to her childhood best friend when she realized she had a crush on her. In front of this beautiful dark haired stranger, her best bet was to just stare from afar, and hope to avoid getting caught… NOT that she had a crush on the stranger. I mean, she is a stranger. A very beautiful, very confident stranger. But a stranger nonetheless.

 

It’s not like she’d want to talk to someone like me,  Laura thought, chuckling to herself at the absurd idea.  She probably has someone in her life too. Like everyone else.

 

With a sigh, the blonde looked away. She again pulled the Student ID from her pocket and glared at it, as if by getting tortured, it was going to provide a solution for her current problem. Her intense concentration  was interrupted when she heard a series of car horns behind her. Upon turning to see the commotion, she saw a couple in a pretentious looking top-down Porsche trying to find a parking spot, but it was blocked by the dark haired girl’s car. The horns blared again as the driver, a really snobby looking guy with sunglasses on, tried to get the girl to move her car, but the girl stood unaffected. She was either deaf, or doing this on purpose. The latter was confirmed when Laura caught her smirk as the other driver grew persistent. 

 

Wow, that is rude.  Laura thought as she watched the stubborn girl stand her ground. It got to the point where the guy was leaning out of his window, yelling at her to move while his presumably girlfriend gave her an annoyed look through her own expensive shades, yet the dark haired girl  just flipped them off. Laura could imagine how being at either end of such situation would piss someone off, but she had to admire this girl’s calmness. It wasn’t like the girl was purposely pissing them off so they would yell. Honestly, the most of the parking area was empty; the only problem was that this girl had parked her car the closest to the door and was standing in a way that blocked anyone from parking next to her. So the couple’s insistence on getting that spot was only a la-di-da move. And while the girl had no reason to move, her attitude was most definitely provoking them. 

 

Yet she never actually answered back. It seemed like she was all too familiar with getting yelled at, it didn’t faze her, something that further intrigued the blonde watching. Observing this girl was like watching the darkness. Anything you throw in it would disappear and the more you fight it, the less you could actually see through it. It may be a little absurd but Laura was positively entranced by it.

 

The shouting match continued for another few minutes. By this time, you would think one of them would’ve back down, but they pretty intended to get arrested by the looks of it. Speaking of which, Laura caught the sight of a security guard in her peripheral, heading outside to scope the situation.  Oh Snickerdoodle! This girl is so going to get in trouble.

 

She didn’t know what came over her, and in a split second, Laura was rushing out the gates, ahead of the guard. Maybe it was her no-good instinct to help people, or maybe with the way things were going today Laura had officially lost her mind. But suddenly she found herself smiling widely and approaching the stranger girl who still had yet to look in the blonde’s direction. 

“Hey! Babe!” Laura exclaimed in an overly sweet and very awkward tone. 

 

The dark haired girl turned towards her in confusion and surprise and for a moment, Laura forgot everything that was happening as she stared straight into those dark brown eyes for a second time that day. But the moment was fleeting when the Porsche snob honked his horn yet again.

 

“I-I am sorry that I kept you waiting for so long,” The blonde somehow managed to recover her act. And when the other girl looked no less confused, and even more attractive with a raised eyebrow in question, Laura managed to give an encouraging look that she hoped conveyed the message: Just trust me and go with it.

 

It might have worked because the eyebrow cautiously lowered and the girl visibly relaxed, though still cautious. Laura took this as a sign to continue before the stern looking guard could reach them. 

“I just wanted to wait for them to take off before I came out. You know, in case hungover Betty got sick on the plane and they had to turn back.” 

The blonde put in a laugh for good measure but failed to make it sound less forced. Mostly because she was actually not lying in her statement, and she had really hoped that it were the case so she could have gotten on that stupid plane.

 

The other girl nodded silently as she still tried to figure out the blonde’s plan here and also ignored the snob still shouting. It all must’ve pieced together, however, when the guard finally reached the scene of commotion. 

 

“Was geht hier vor sich?” He spoke up sternly. Laura gave him a confused look at the German which he must’ve noticed because he continued in a heavily accented but much appreciated English for convenience. “Is there a problem, Miss?” 

 

Giving an assuring glance to the other girl, Laura put on a polite and very convincing smile. “There is no problem, Sir. We came here to drop off our friend, Betty. My partner was waiting here while I said my goodbyes. But then that gentlemen over there-” The blonde turned to point towards the Porsche and felt rather pleased to see the terrified looks on their faces as they stared at the guard’s baton. She also noticed the dark haired girl smirking at their reaction and thought that it was enough. The girl was smiling and looked less stressed than she had before, so Laura considered it a job well done.

 

“You know what?” she exclaimed instead, facing the guard once again with a big smile, “Never mind. Thank you for your concern officer but if you excuse us, we’ll be on our way.”

 

The guard kept a stern look on and even sent a subtle but noticeable glare towards the Porsche couple, before nodding to Laura. The blonde waited for him to leave but he seemed to be staying just in case, so instead she turned to the dark haired girl who once again had a bored expression on and grabbed the spinning keys from her hand. The girl looked mildly impressed at her reflexes but then regarded her with confusion and somewhat shocked look as Laura continued towards the driver’s side of the car.

 

“Come on, I am driving.” She said excitedly as she climbed in. The dark haired girl watched stunned for a moment before she caught the guard looking at her suspiciously and she grumbled indignantly, making her way to the passenger’s side. Besides, if Laura had any intention of stealing the car, she wouldn’t have made that lie to save her, not to mention she would’ve driven away by now. 

 

Throwing her seatbelt on, Laura sent a playful salute to the guard and drove away. 

 

“So… you are welcome.” Laura spoke up, pulling out of the parking lot and finally noticing the awkwardness of the whole situation. The girl was silent. 

 

“Um… Es tut uns leid?” She tried again, trying to remember the German class she had taken in primary school. No reply. 

  
  


Didn’t this girl care if she was in a car with a total stranger whom she had dumped her coffee on and who had just in a way kidnapped her in her own car?

 

“Entschuldigen Sie?”  Silence once more.

 

Apparently, she didn’t.

 

Laura glanced at her for a second as she kept on driving, and found her to be slouched in her seat. The blonde glanced again for a moment. She had her head against the rolled up window, her dark hair framing and hiding half her face and casting light shadows on the other half. Another brief glance, and the blonde saw her arm against the door, propping up her head. One more, and she finally caught her expression and felt a sudden, unexplainable, physical pain in her own chest.

 

Lost.

 

There was no other way to describe it. 

 

The girl looked so vulnerably lost that Laura forgot all her own problems and suddenly wanted nothing more than to fix this broken girl. 

 

No, not fix. 

 

Not broken either. 

 

Just lost. In her own mind. In her own little world. And as it seemed, in her own nightmare. 

 

Laura suddenly was overwhelmed with fear at how she could so easily read and lose herself in this strange and unknown girl. No one ever before had looked so open yet closed at the same time. And it wasn’t the curious journalist in her that wanted to investigate. But instead it felt as if her soul wanted to connect to this girl’s. Laura felt it. One glance and she felt it. This girl was screaming her story so loud that it went beyond the human hearing capabilities, and nobody could really hear it. Somehow, Laura felt like she could; like she wanted to. 

 

*honk*

 

Laura abruptly sprung the car back into her lane just before it went offtrack. And hit the honking truck.  Phew.

 

One last glance towards the girl and Laura had decided. No matter what happened, she could at least try.

“Wanna go to Munich?” 

 


End file.
